Keeping up with Oregon: USC starts L.A. Coliseum modern...

FAQ: Little Caesars Bowl

The 2011 Little Caesars Bowl is just a day away. We're sure you have so many questions. We're here to help. (For an Xs and Os breakdown, check out Matt Dollinger's game preview.)

• Where will this game be played? Ford Field, Detroit, home of the Detroit Lions and host of the MAC Championship Game.

• When is it on television? Kickoff is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. ET on Tuesday, December 27. The game will be televised on ESPN.

• Whom does it feature? Current tie-ins match up the Big Ten and MAC, with an optional Sun Belt alternate.

• What about this year? Purdue and Western Michigan will gamely attempt to make some noise in a largely empty domed structure.

• Didn't Purdue beat Ohio State? What on earth is it doing in this game? The Boilermakers also lost to Rice and finished 6-6.

• Might this be a game, then? It might! Western Michigan was very much in the thick of a highly competitive MAC this season, and fields the nation's eighth-ranked passing offense. The Broncos do not care to play any sort of defense, which will perhaps bewilder an opponent used to Big Ten play.

• Please impart any miscellaneous knowledge you might have concerning the 2011 Little Caesars Bowl. The list of previous Little Caesars/Motor City Bowl MVPs is a veritable who's who of backup NFL quarterbacks. Dan Orlovsky, Dan LeFevour, Curtis Painter and Rusty Smith have all plied their trade under the lights in Detroit.

• Enough about the football. What about the loot? "Grandpa, what's that on the shelf?" "My 2011 Little Caesars Pizza Bowl commemorative football, given to me at the 2011 Little Caesars Pizza Bowl." "Was this before the zombie raptor apocalypse, Grandpa?" "Eleven months to the day, little one." "Why was it not called the Little Caesars Pizza Pizza Bowl, Grandpa?" "We may never know, my boy. We may never know."